It’s been like the start of any brand new relationship: a lot of talk in the beginning, much of it excited. A lot of “Really, me too!” After the first few days of Avalanche training camp, though, you can already tell that Patrick Roy knows his honeymoon as coach could be short.

Mind you: It will be short on his account, not anyone else’s.

Roy can have all the money in the world — and he’s got a lot, he still owns his lucrative junior team in Quebec, don’t forget; plus he made more than $100 million as a player — but only one thing makes him happy:

Winning.

I encourage anyone who wants to learn more about Roy to pick up the book his own father wrote about him, “Patrick Roy: Winning. Nothing Else.” In it, you’ll see that money long ago stopped being important in his life.

Roy seems to have a better grasp in the past couple days that this isn’t going to be an easy fix. I still have a lot of optimism that he’ll get things turned around with this franchise, but I also feel optimistic that it won’t be some fairy-tale story.

The one thing that hasn’t seemed to waver with Roy so far after nearly a full week on the job: He is happy with how hard his team is working, how much it wants change.

This will be a big part of Roy’s adjustment to the NHL behind the bench though. Unlike in junior hockey, the wins and losses mean a lot more.

Roy will always have a baseline level of happiness if his team works as hard it can, but he will never wear a smile if wins aren’t a byproduct.

Right now, those easy smiles of the first few days are less prevalent. Roy knows this relationship, if it is to last, will take some work.

Adrian Dater: adater@denverpost.com or twitter.com/adater

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